Power win and head to finals

A wet day was no barrier to the Gippsland Power continuing their winning ways against the Oakleigh Chargers over the weekend. The 13.8.87 to 5.6.36 win consolidates the Power's position in second place on the ladder, separated Ballarat in first on percentage only.

With three games to go until the finals, the Power are in the home stretch with games against the Eastern Ranges, Sandringham Dragons and the Northern Knights over the next four weeks.

Rob Reid from the Power says that as ever with a such a strong win, the whole team contributed to the result.

"Everybody jumps on board and that's the great thing. You could probably pick your best players from 12 I suppose."

Rob says a strong start set the team up well which given Oakleigh came back at them in the second half was a vital part of the game.

"They had a fantastic first quarter, five goals to one, just dominated the quarter and then at half time it was 10 goals to two...After half time, Oakleigh came out and they just made it a real contest. they just congested the ball up and it was just contest after contest."

Oakleigh were hampered perhaps by not having all of their players available for the game which they will have in coming weeks and in the finals, making those games a tougher prospect for opposition teams.

"We would rather have played them at full strength because it gives you a much better indication of where your boys are but we're pretty confident that we've got the game plan, the style and the types of kids who can stand up against anyone anyway."

The win was a nice lead in to the Power's celebration of its first 20 years on Saturday night where past players were acknowledged and a 'Team of the 20 years' named including some of the super stars of that era in AFL.

Players like Scott Pendlebury and Dale Thomas of Collingwood, Robert Murphy of the Western Bulldogs and Jarryd Roughhead of Hawthorn were all named in the squad.